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About to apply for a mortgage on a 30 year old stone fronted, brick built detached house.
Got the option of a 275 quid valuation or 510 quid homebuyers report.
Track history is that on a different 30 year old house, a home buyers report told us precisely nowt.
Then a valuation only on our next house @ 80 years old, and bought something that kept me awake at night with damp, structural movement and mice. Spent years regretting not getting a better survey.
Let's have your survey stories, good and bad! Anyone really pleased they got a homebuyers report on a modern property?
Bump for daytime crowd....
get one if you can afford it but a basic one is sufficient for the mortgage company to lend on and they have a lot more money than you.
I'd go for the homebuyers report if you're not very clued up on whats good and what isn't in a house.
The basic one is pretty basic. Given the choice I'd go for at least the homebuyers report anyway. You've probably got more comeback if some bad is discovered post purchase.
Besides, you're spending £200k, whats £500 in the great scheme of things?
IMO you're probably better off having a good poke around yourself, if you have the time (and the seller indulges you). Damp isn't exactly easy to hide, neither are cracks in the walls. I've never seen a survey/report that said anything useful, and 500 quid doesn't really buy much expertise or attention to detail anyway.
I wouldn't bother if the mortgage company doesn't need it. That said if damp, structural movement and mice comes as a surprise to you in an 80 year old house you may get some benefit. Pretty sure they all have those to some extent and it usually isn't a big issue.
Are you friendly with any local builders? The £235 difference would be much better spent paying a builder to have a look at it and give his opinion. In reality, you're only likely to spot things that are fairly obvious, major issues, and almost any reasonable builder will be able to spot those.
Homebuyers Report isn't worth the paper its printed on, it's not binding and gives you no comeback. Either don't bother, or go for the full survey, which is effectively an insurance policy even if it doesn't find anything untoward at the time.
Agree, I'd go basic and find a builder, pay them some cash to come with you and have a good poke round.
Are you friendly with any local builders? The £235 difference would be much better spent paying a builder to have a look at it and give his opinion. In reality, you're only likely to spot things that are fairly obvious, major issues, and almost any reasonable builder will be able to spot those
This and
Homebuyers Report isn't worth the paper its printed on, it's not binding and gives you no comeback. Either don't bother, or go for the full survey, which is effectively an insurance policy even if it doesn't find anything untoward at the time.
I'm not sure a full survey is worth anything either. My experience is that both seem to pass the buck to others and tell you things you could have worked out yourself -
"the roof is 30 years old and as such may be in need of some repair or remedial work. you should consult a roofing expert for a full appraisal"
"the electrical consumer unit is unlikely to meet current regulations, you should consult an electrician to identify any remedial work required"
Both will be heavily caveated so that even if they miss anything it will not be worth you chasing up.
A 30 year old house is likely to need some work if it hasn't already been done -
Roof should be fine but could have some issues by now
Windows are likely to be approaching the end of their life unless they were good quality to start with and have been well maintained.
Wiring will be fine and safe but wont' meet current regulations. Would be a good idea to have the Consumer Unit replaced to get one with RCDs if it hasn't already been done.
Look for damp, look for dodgy gutters, etc etc.
If you're not confidant to do it try and find a builder to - pay for half a day to do a quote to bring everything up to spec which will give you both a negotiating position and a good idea of what you're letting yourself in for.
Do not get a homebuyer report that is in any way linked to the mortgage valuation. Years ago we ended up with mortgage money being withheld against some of the scaremongering nonsense in the homebuyer report.
Get the absolute minimum survey for the mortgage.
Then as above, if you are concerned get a builder or structural engineer to have a look. A colleague just did the latter and it was surprisingly cheap and much more use (if you've owned two houses then you should be able to spot things like age of boiler, condition of roof and gutters etc).
30 years isn't that old - Building Control people might be helpful - we once considered a house on an embankment next to a railway. I managed to speak to the council building control guy that signed it off in 1987(!) and he confirmed it was all built on piled foundations, generally good ground in the area etc.
hoe buyers report,, full survey call it what you like... waste of time money and effort.. has no legal value whatsoever.. i see them a lot.. get them waved in my face by new home owners to prove there boiler/fire/cooker is ok and regularly serviced.. the reports fall somewhere between lies/fiction/inaccurate/guesswork.
best i ve seen was the home with a clean bill of health that had two regualry serviced gas fires in bedrooms.. a jumper stuffed up the flue of the gas fire in the lounge and a hob in the kitchen that had had one of the jets drilled out..and the boiler was broken.. try breaking that news to someone whose shelled out every penny they have to buy a new home on the first day they live in it..
Bear in mind that the valuation for the mortgage company is not for your benefit and you have no comeback on it. I would still get the HBR as that is what a prudent buyer would do, your spending x thousand on a house a quibbling over a few hundred quid. The HBR also flags points to your solicitor and still affords you a degree of protection. I would not use the mortgage co's surveyor but get a local surveyor to do the survey who knows the area.
Our report on our 130 year old house made everything sound peachy. Those who have also owned a cheaply built miners house will tell you otherwise.
Next time I'll not bother and go poking around myself.
From (bitter) experience - go with whatever the cheapest option that the mortgage co / bank want or need.
Then find a local surveyor and pay them directly for a private, full report. It'll be about fraction of the price of the banks offering, a lot more detailed and the detail doesn't go to the lender. At our first house the bank insisted on getting the 'woodworm' treated as part of the mortgage offer - it came up in the survey. Needless to say there was no woodworm and it was money wasted.
Of the £1000 odd you can pay for a survey / report via the lender only £150 odd reaches the surveyor. The buyers of our last house had their own done - the chap spent about 2.5 hours poking around our 2 bed end of terrace, lots and lots of photos taken and then they had a chat with the surveyor ahead of his full, many paged report.
I think it cost approx £400.